Acute effects of fine particulate matter constituents on cardiopulmonary function in a panel of COPD patients.

BACKGROUND

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) has been linked with adverse cardiorespiratory health conditions. However, evidence for PM constituents is still scarce, especially among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the associations of short-term exposure to different chemical constituents of PM with measures of cardiac and lung function in COPD patients.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective panel study among 100 COPD patients who received repeated measures of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV), forced vital capacity (FVC) and peak expiratory flow (PEF) in Shanghai, China from August 2014 to September 2019. Daily PM and PM constituents were obtained from fixed-site monitoring station. Linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the associations of PM.

RESULTS

We found water-soluble ions of PM, mainly NO, SO, and NH were robustly associated with reduced LVEF, and the reductions in LVEF associated with an IQR increase of them ranged from 1.8% to 2.0% (lag 1 d). Metal constituents such as Cu and As were associated with FEV, FVC and PEF. The corresponding reductions in lung function parameters for an IQR increase of them ranged from 1.4% to 2.3% (lag 0 or 1 d). These associations remained relatively robust after adjusting for total PM mass and gaseous pollutants.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that water-soluble ions and several metal/metalloid elements might be important constituents in PM that were associated with reduced cardiorespiratory function among COPD patients.